Day 7: Day Trip to York

Warning: A very picture heavy post.. For people who keep complaining there are no photos, prepare to be bombarded!! hehehe... Cousins Loy and Vikki please take note, something to interest you at the bottom!

Woke up around 6am to get ready for the first day trip this semester.. To York, and to think i only looked it up on google the night before.. (Wikipedia) The bus trip was enjoyable, but it took about 2 and a half hours to arrive..The senior in charge of our coach brought along a CD full of chinese songs to give us some familiarity, but all they did for me was make me feel sleepy, haha...

Speeding past the english countryside..

Taking photos of each other in the bus.. (my camera that is.. haha, chanelling Yoda) Oh, and I have proven that Sony Cybershot takes better pictures than Canon Ixus!

We had a fifteen minute break at a rest stop.. I really like the toilets there.. You have to wave your hand for it to flush, so fun, haha... More pictures from the rest stop:

Left: With finger, right: without finger.. :D

Partners for the day..

First glimpses of York..

Taken from the bus..

we were given a brief introduction on the bus and told which were the places that we had to visit.. I liked the system a lot, cos we were each given a map and told the meeting time and venue, then we were allowed to explore the city on our own.. The first stop however, we were led there by our senior- Clifford's Tower~

Walking to Clifford's Tower

Loads of swans, and their shit, it was all over the place... luckily there was no stink! :)

First look..

Honestly, nothing much to see at Clifford's Tower, just a crumbly building on a hill.. haha

We were lucky as the black clouds around during the journey there seemed to disappear as we arrived.. The weather forecast was that there would be rain on Sunday, but saturday turned out to be glorious! Real summer weather in York.. In fact sometimes it was really sunny and hot! :S

After that, we began to explore on our own.. You will realise later that the four of us had split up afterwards, cos the other 2 wanted to do some serious shopping, while I actually preferred to see the sights.. Imagine my horror when the first place they went to was the Miss Selfridge outlet in York! luckily I managed to see almost everything after we split up, otherwise I would never forgive myself..

We were directed to this place by a friendly senior we bumped into, maybe we were looking lost~ >.< Shortest street (roughly 10 steps) with the longest name..

Posing with a street sign O.o.. You all lah, keep wanting to see pictures, we felt so pressured to take pictures of ourselves.. If i had it my way, my face wouldn't appear in any photo... :*

After that, we went exploring round the market area.. Lots of little shops with interesting things.. Here are a few examples:

Giant cookies to replace cakes~

Lots of tempting goodies~

Shops selling fancy cake icing even, haha..

Can you spot what is so interesting about this shop?

"The Codfather"
I didn't realise at first, then I was wondering what the picture of The Godfather was doing then I realised the pun :D

Outside the travel agents.. :) Notice what I'm pointing at?

Loads of big name stores like this as well! I like how they manage to mix brands and quaint stuff at the same place..

After that, we spotted some narrow stairs that looked like they would lead somewhere interesting, and so we climbed up to take a look.. the best decision ever, cos we found ourselves atop a part of the ancient fortress walls built by the romans..

Something interesting along the wall.. Read below..

View from the wall, of course its more modern now, with cars~ @.@

On the gates leading to the wall..

Then it was back to the marketplace for we had agreed to meet up with the other 2 girls at 12pm.. We bought 2 quarter-pounder cheese burgers (the roadside stall kind, not the McDonald's kind) and shared them for lunch, believe me, everything here can feed 2 ppl! then as they still wanted to shop some more, we separated again after lunch, and Adelynne and me went to take a look at the museum gardens, where we were recommended to have a picnic.. We didn't bring anything for a picnic obviously, so...


The ruins were kind of creepy, with open crypts and what were obviously empty stone coffins.. The temperature was a little cooler than outside.. but they were really begging to be photographed.. That couple there took tonnes of pictures I think, cos they were still there after we had walked around the grounds and back..

Then we got really lucky! There was a large group of ppl surrounding some sort of show or something, and being the kiasu person that I am, I just had to see what was going on.. We were really far away at that time.. Turns out there was a 'show' where they were firing cannons, thats what I thought at that time..

Very 'zoomed' shot of the shiny cannons..

After the blast..

All I could think of was that it was very loudand smoky and smelly cos of the smoke.. We left after a few blasts cos we couldn't stand the smell.. Only as we were leaving the museum gardens did we see a sign that made us realise we had just seen something really special.. The 21-gun salute is only performed roughly 5 times a year at exactly 12pm, when the guard is inspected while the band plays.. Turns out we were there on the Queen's official birthday! What are the odds?! I even have a picture of the marching band, which I took when i didn't even realise its significance!

Still in the museum gardens, more ruins, this time of a church:

In the grass all around the area were little plaques labelling the rooms that had stood there before, I think it was pretty interesting..

Sitting on the church ruins.. Blasphemy??

Its nice to live in the UK when you can see plenty of nice dogs around, I wish we could have that at home.. :(

Other random stuff:

He was making cutouts of people's names using one whole piece of wood and the sewing machine-like machine...

at High Peter's Gate

Another church we went into, but very much less impressive than what was to come..

Random street shot

Another impressive building..

Cute little fire station..

I actually like this picture because of the hunks around me, haha..

More marketplace shots..

Then one of the highlights of the day: York Minster, apparently the largest gothic cathedral (whatever the difference is) in Northern Europe.. Its very much a part of York, cos you can hear the bells tolling at every corner of the city.. Very impressive!
Many postcard worthy pictures!!!

I saw a very professional looking photographer taking a pic from this angle, so I quickly copied him, it really is a very good angle~ :)

Postcard worthy again.. I should make my own, hmm..

Inside:
Didn't purchase an entry ticket, so could only see the main hall..

Walls

Ceiling

Windows

Arches

Archbishop (R.I.P)- Walter Gray

Iron gates


Said preserved windows..

Outside:
Bumped into the 2 girls outside York Minster, so we decided to go to the National Railway Museum together.. To be continued in the next post..

Stuff I got:

Only 2 pounds at a charity shop, lots of these in York.. wish I had the budget to get more books :(

Postcards.. 25 pence each.. Mei Hang, choose 2 then I will send them to you k? you want them blank?



Vikki and Loy, is this what you are looking for? I got this one because I felt it was interesting.. Its from The National Bank of India. Do let me know.. I didnt dare to get more cos I wasn't sure..

End of part 1 regarding my trip to York.. Looking forward to telling you about the next part, but its really late now.. time for bed!